THE LIFE OF FAITH AND THE GLORIOUS CHURCH - 2009
FEBRUARY 22nd
WE NEED TO
"SATURATE" OUR HEARTS WITH THE WORD OF TRUTH IN THIS HOUR
...."You are of
your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks his own nature; for he is
a liar, and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not
believe Me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you
not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do
not hear them, because you are not of God"....
John 8:44-47 NASB
In 1 John we read of the
"lusts of this world" [and the things which are characteristic of the
world system] and some of the characteristics of the old nature - that is, the
fallen nature of man [the mind of Satan, the nature of Satan] that was
inherited by Adam [mankind] at the Fall. We now, as believers, have the mind of
Christ, but we need to "saturate" our hearts with the Word of God for
we are going to have to bring every one of our thoughts captive to a revelation
of that Word - keeping our eyes fixed upon the things above and fixed upon
Jesus - in order for us to be "renewed" in our minds to the degree
that we shall be enabled to see "all" things through the eyes of God.
God is faithful and He is both willing and able to bring these things to pass
in our lives as we open our heart to receive all that He has for us. We can see
clearly two things here in this passage:
1. There is no truth in Satan, so therefore we can know that there
is no element of truth in his "world system" [the antichrist system].
2. Therefore, if we remain in "fellowship with the world"
we are already on a foundation of deception and lies, and we will not find any
light or truth [revelation ] as long as our "heart" remains there.
THE SOLE AND FINAL AUTHORITY IN OUR LIVES MUST BE THE WORD OF GOD AND THE
ANOINTING, WHICH ABIDES WITHIN US
When one's senses are "trained" to discern both good and evil [Hebrews 5:14] THEN they will be
empowered by the Holy Spirit to see clearly the reciprocal action of Satan's
lie as it stands opposite to [is a counterfeit of] God's truth. But it is most
important that we NOT allow ourselves to come into any kind of
"dependence" upon our "own" understanding through the
pursuit of self-desire - for the sole and final authority in our lives MUST
ALWAYS be the Word of God, and the Anointing, which abides within us. There are
many ways in which Satan is enabled to lure a child of God towards the
"world" IF their hearts are not wholly given to God for His purposes,
and if His wisdom is not cherished above ALL else. There are two types of
wisdom. There is the "darkened" wisdom of this world, and there is
the "revealed" wisdom [knowledge] of God, and whichever one we
cherish in our heart - that is the wisdom which we are going to live by. It
must be clearly understood that the latter leads to light and life and the
former leads to darkness and destruction. Therefore, we need to have our minds
renewed to the wisdom of God so that we can say with the apostle Paul that "we
have the mind of Christ" - and not only that we have the mind of Christ,
but also that we are "operating" [abiding] in that Mind [divine
Wisdom]. As believers fellowship with the world they leave themselves open to
"darkened knowledge" [counterfeit "revelation"]. We must
all come to a deep realization [revelation] of the fact that anything that
proceeds from the mind of Satan is a lie and is contrary to the Truth - his
only purpose being, to lead people away from the Truth [the Word] and into a
deep dependence upon themselves [thus allowing him to retain
"control" of their lives].
IF
WE KEEP OUR EYES FIXED ON THE "THINGS BELOW" THEN WE SHALL BE DRAWN
INTO AN AREA OF FALSE HOPE - AN AREA WHEREIN A STRONG DESIRE TO DISCERN ALL
THROUGH OUR FIVE "PHYSICAL" SENSES IS STRENGTHENED
There is NO truth in him
and, therefore, we must seek to discern "all" things through the eyes
of God and the mind of Christ [the Anointed One and His Anointing). If we keep
our eyes fixed on the "things below" then we shall be drawn into an
area of false hope - an area wherein a strong desire to discern all through our
five "physical" senses is strengthened. We must in no way put any
hope or trust in anything that proceeds from, or is part of, the world system of
Satan, for regardless of how good it may "look", it has no eternal
value whatsoever and, along, with all of the other things in the "system
"is perishing rapidly. All the things of the temporal realm are
"changeable" [subject to corruption] whereas all of the things of God
are eternal. Therefore, to place our faith on anything other than the revealed
knowledge of God's Word is foolishness - for that which looks secure to us may
not even exist in a short time! Therefore, let us be found exercising our faith
solely upon the revealed knowledge of God's Word and, thus, allow that Word to
become the "anchor of our soul". As we allow our minds to be renewed,
and thus put ourselves in a position to be a partaker of the mind of Christ,
THEN we will come to a full understanding of that which constitutes to us,
"fellowship with the world" - that is, those things that hinder our
walk with God. This whole area of what is considered heart-fellowship with the
world comes down to this one point: do we love the Lord our God with our whole
heart [with every fibre of our being] or do we still have things in our lives
that we have "allowed" to steal the affections of our heart. Those
children of God who remain in fellowship with the world in this last hour will
not be able to discern those who are truly of God and those who are not - and
this is indeed a serious matter! For it is certain that it will not go well
with those who have allowed themselves to be used by Satan and His forces to
hinder the true work of God [2 Timothy 2:26].
Related
Scriptures: Joshua 1:8; Romans 8:6-7; 1 Corinthians 2:16; 1 John
2:27; John 10:10; Luke 11:35; Colossians 3:1-3; Luke 10:27;
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